Soldotna considers senior complex

Council 'Committee of the Whole' to discuss APOC, police pay scale

Under a new format added to Soldotna City Council meetings, the group will meet as the "Committee of the Whole" at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday prior to the regular council meeting.

Items to be discussed during the one-hour, work session-like meeting are new Alaska Public Office Commission financial disclosure requirements of public officials, the city's pay scale as it relates to upper ranks of Soldotna police and the requested transfer of a lease lot at the Soldotna Municipal Airport.

During the regular council meeting, which is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m., a public hearing is slated for approval of a planned unit development that would erect a two-story, 90,000 square-foot senior-citizen apartment building known as "Primrose Retirement Community" at the northwest corner of Little and Fireweed streets. The building is to have 68 units.

City Manager Tom Boedeker said on Monday that the city's planning commission recommended approval of the planned unit development.

Wooded property across Little Street from the proposed retirement community currently is undeveloped, but Boedeker said a preliminary plat has been filed for developing that land into single- and two-family units. The Primrose plan drawings indicate landscaping will be put in to serve as a buffer from neighboring properties.

Boedeker said neighbors living in single-family homes along West Redoubt Avenue backing up to Primrose and in the Mountain Rose retirement community to the west did not present any objections to the Primrose building at Planning and Zoning.

The apartment building to be built for senior citizens is a development of Primrose Retirement Communities, a South Dakota-based development company. The company's Web site pictures well-maintained and landscaped buildings in many northern states from Ohio to Montana.

"They've been very well received wherever they've gone in," Boedeker said.

The council also is slated to consider an appeal of a bid award for work on the ventilation system at the Soldotna Animal Control building.

Boedeker said the contract was awarded to the second-lowest bidder because the lowest bidder Duct or Sheetmetal Inc. was not in compliance with Kenai Peninsula Borough taxes at the time of bidding.

After negotiating terms with Great Northern Construction and Management, the city agreed to let the contract for $10,885.

Jimmy Libert, proprietor of Duct or Sheetmetal, appeared before the council two weeks ago, admitting his taxes were not up to date at the time of the bid, as required by city code. After coming into compliance, he filed the appeal.

Also up for consideration is a request to transfer an airport "H" lot lease from one lessee to another. Although no hangar is currently on the lot, Boedeker said the lot is large enough for a hangar, and the new lessee, if approved, may erect a hangar in the future.

Because of the waiting list for airport lot leasing, lease transfers require the approval of the city council.

Phil Hermanek can be reached at phillip.hermanek@peninsulaclarion.com.